Ritual Conformity: Interpretations of the Rubrics of the Prayer-Book Agreed Upon by a Conference Held at All Saints, Margaret-street, 1880-1881
Religion
Ritual Conformity: Interpretations of the Rubrics of the Prayer-Book Agreed Upon by a Conference Held at All Saints, Margaret-street, 1880-1881
Church of England -- Liturgy -- Texts -- Rubrics; Church of England. Book of common prayer; Ritualism -- History -- 19th century
Two terms are here used, viz., 'read with a loud voice,' and 'say.'
The words 'a loud voice' have been continued in the opening rubric
of the service since 1549, when the Priest was directed to 'begin
with a loud voice the Lord's Prayer,' which previously had been
said '_secreto_.' In 1552, when the office was arranged to begin
with the Sentences, they were ordered to be 'read with a loud
voice.'
That 'read' may mean a musical recital, whether monotone or
inflected, can be inferred from the rubric of the lessons which
existed in the Prayer-Book from 1549 to 1604. "Then shall be
_read_ two Lessons distinctly with a loud voice, that the people
may hear. . . . And, to the end that the people may _better_ hear,
in such places where they do sing, there shall the Lessons be
_sung_ in a plain tune after the manner of distinct reading, and
likewise the Epistle and Gospel." The 'Ministers' in 1661 took
'Exceptions' to this rubric on the ground that this portion of
the Service "being for the most part neither Psalms nor Hymns,
we know no warrant why they should be sung in any place, and
conceive that the distinct reading of them with an audible voice
tends more to the edification of the Church." To this the bishops
replied, that "the rubric directs only such singing as is after the
manner of distinct reading, and we never heard of any inconvenience
thereby, and therefore conceive this demand to be needless."
The latter portion of this rubric, explaining the most effectual
manner of distinct reading, was indeed omitted in 1662; but, though
the Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel are no longer _required_ to be
'sung' anywhere, the word 'read' must have included that manner
of reading when directed for the Sentences in 1552.
The word 'say' was applied to the Exhortation, 'Dearly beloved,'
&c., when that was introduced in 1552, and has been continued ever
since. It occurs in the rubric before the versicles after the
first Lord's Prayer (No. 23, below), viz., 'Then likewise shall
he say,' dating from 1549, where the word 'likewise' indicated
that the word 'begin' in the preceding rubric of that book meant
'say.' And if the word 'likewise' had been used in the latter
portion of this rubric, 'read' must have been also interpreted
to be identical with 'say.' But it is not used here, and therefore,
the word 'read' need not mean the same as the word 'say;' and,
consequently, while 'say' strictly means a monotone (as distinct
from 'sing,' which implies inflections); 'read' includes some other
mode of reciting the Sentences, such as singing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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